Choosing a Naming Service

You can choose one of the following ways to preconfigure system configuration
information. You can add the system configuration information to any of the
following.

A sysidcfg file on a remote system or
diskette

Note –

The name_service option in the sysidcfg file
automatically sets the naming service during installation of the Solaris
OS. This setting overrides SMF services previously setup for site.xml.
Therefore, you might need to reset your name service after installation.

Preconfiguring With the Naming Service

The following table provides a high-level overview of the naming service
databases that you need to edit and populate to preconfigure system information.

System Information to Preconfigure

Naming Service Database

Host name and Internet Protocol (IP) address

hosts

Date and time

hosts. Specify the timehost alias
next to the host name of the system that will provide the date and time for
the systems that are being installed.

Time zone

timezone

Netmask

netmasks

You cannot preconfigure the locale for a system with the DNS or LDAP
name service. If you use the NIS or NIS+ name service, follow the procedure
below to use your naming service to preconfigure the locale for a system.

Note –

In order to successfully preconfigure your system locale by using
NIS or NIS+, the following requirements must be met:

You must boot the system from the network by using the following
command:

The NIS or NIS+ server must be available to access during
the installation.

If these requirements are fulfilled, the installer uses the preconfigured
settings and does not prompt for the locale during the installation. If either
requirement is not fulfilled, the installer prompts for your locale information
during the installation.

The
following example specifies that Belgian French is the default locale that
is used by a system named myhost:

fr_BE myhost

Note –

Locales are available on the Solaris DVD or Solaris Software - 1 CD.

Make
the maps:

# cd /var/yp; make

Systems that are specified by domain or individually in the locale map are now set up to use the default locale. The default locale
that you specified is used during installation and by the desktop after the
system is rebooted.

The comment field. Use double quotation marks to begin and
end comments that are longer than one word.

Note –

Locales are available on the Solaris DVD or Solaris Software - 1 CD.

Systems that are specified by domain or individually in the locale table are now set up to use the default locale. The default locale
you specified is used during installation and by the desktop after the system
is rebooted.

See Also

Preconfiguring System Configuration Information
With the DHCP Service (Tasks)

The Dynamic
Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) enables host systems in a TCP/IP network
to be configured automatically for the network as they boot. DHCP uses a client
and server mechanism. Servers store and manage configuration information for
clients, and provide that information on a client's request. The information
includes the client's IP address and information about network services available
to the client.

A primary benefit of DHCP is its ability to manage IP address assignments
through leasing. Leasing allows IP addresses to be reclaimed when not in use
and reassigned to other clients. This ability enables a site to use a smaller
pool of IP address than would be needed if all clients were assigned a permanent
address.

You can use DHCP to install the Solaris OS on
certain client systems on your network. All SPARC based systems that are supported
by the Solaris OS and x86 based systems that meet the hardware requirements
for running the Solaris OS can use this feature.

The following task map shows the high-level tasks that must be performed
to enable clients to obtain installation parameters by using DHCP.

Table 3–2 Task Map: Preconfiguring System Configuration
Information With the DHCP Service

Task

Description

Instructions

Set up an install server.

Set up a Solaris server to support clients that must install the Solaris OS from
the network.

Creating DHCP Options and Macros for Solaris
Installation Parameters

When you add clients with
the add_install_client -d script on the install server,
the script reports DHCP configuration information to standard output. This
information can be used when you create the options and macros that are needed
to pass network installation information to clients.

You can customize the options and macros in your DHCP service to perform
the following types of installations.

Class-specific installations –
You can instruct the DHCP service to perform a network installation for all
clients of a specific class. For example, you can define a DHCP macro that
performs the same installation on all Sun Blade systems on the network. Use
the output of the add_install_client -d command to set
up a class-specific installation.

Network-specific installations –
You can instruct the DHCP service to perform a network installation for all
clients in a specific network. For example, you can define a DHCP macro that
performs the same installation on all systems in the 192.168.2 network.

Client-specific installations –You
can instruct the DHCP service to perform a network installation for a client
with a specific Ethernet address. For example, you can define a DHCP macro
that performs a specific installation on the client with the Ethernet address
00:07:e9:04:4a:bf. Use the output of the add_install_client -d -eethernet_address command to set up a client-specific
installation.

For more information on setting up clients to use a DHCP server for
a network installation, see the following procedures.

DHCP Options and Macro Values

To install DHCP clients from the network, you must create Vendor category
options to pass information that is needed to install the Solaris OS.
The following tables describe common DHCP options that you can use to install
a DHCP client.

You can use the standard DHCP options that are listed in Table 3–3 to configure and install x86 based
systems. These options are not platform specific, and can be used to install
the Solaris OS on a variety of x86 based systems. Use these
options to install the Solaris 10 release on x86 based systems
by using DHCP. For a complete list of standard options, see dhcp_inittab(4).

Table 3–4 lists
options that you can use to install Sun client systems. The vendor client
classes that are listed in this table determine what classes of client can
use the option. Vendor client classes that are listed here are examples only.
You should specify client classes that indicate the actual clients in your
network that you need to install from the network. See Working With DHCP Options (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: IP Services for information about how to determine a client's
vendor client class.

The following Vendor category options are required to enable
a DHCP server to support Solaris installation clients. The options are used
in the Solaris client's startup scripts.

Note –

Vendor client classes that are listed here are examples only.
You should specify client classes that indicate the actual clients in your
network that you need to install from the network.

SrootIP4

2

IP address

1

1

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

IP address of root server

SrootNM

3

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Host name of root server

SrootPTH

4

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Path to the client's root directory on the root server

SinstIP4

10

IP address

1

1

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

IP address of JumpStart install server

SinstNM

11

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Host name of install server

SinstPTH

12

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Path to installation image on install server

The following options can be used by the client startup scripts,
but are not required by the scripts.

Note –

Vendor client classes that are listed here are examples only.
You should specify client classes that indicate the actual clients in your
network that you need to install from the network.

SrootOpt

1

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

NFS mount options for the client's root file system

SbootFIL

7

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Path to the client's boot file

SbootRS

9

NUMBER

2

1

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

NFS read size used by standalone boot program when loading the kernel

SsysidCF

13

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Path to sysidcfg file, in the format server:/path

SjumpsCF

14

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Path to JumpStart configuration file in the format server:/path

SbootURI

16

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Path to the standalone boot file or path to the WAN boot file. For the
standalone boot file, use the following format.

tftp://inetboot.sun4u

For the WAN boot file, the format is

http://host.domain/path-to-file

This option can be used to override BootFile and siaddr settings in order to retrieve a standalone boot file. Supported
protocols: tftp (inetboot), http (wanboot). For example, use the following
format. tftp://inetboot.sun4u

SHTTPproxy

17

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

IP address and port number of the proxy server that is used on your
network. This option is needed only when a client is booting across a WAN,
and the local network uses a proxy server. For example, use the following
format: 198.162.10.5:8080

The following options are not currently used by the Solaris
client startup scripts. You can use them only if you edit the startup scripts.

Note –

Vendor client classes that are listed here are examples only.
You should specify client classes that indicate the actual clients in your
network that you need to install from the network.

SswapIP4

5

IP address

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

IP address of swap server

SswapPTH

6

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Path to the client's swap file on the swap server

Stz

8

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Time zone for client

Sterm

15

ASCII text

1

0

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000, SUNW.Sun-Fire-880, SUNW.i86pc

Terminal type

When you have created the options,
you can create macros that include those options. The following table lists
sample macros you can create to support Solaris installation for clients.

Table 3–5 Sample Macros
to Support Network Installation Clients

Macro Name

Contains These Options and Macros

Solaris

SrootIP4, SrootNM, SinstIP4, SinstNM

sparc

SrootPTH, SinstPTH

sun4u

Solaris and sparc macros

sun4v

Solaris and sparc macros

i86pc

Solaris macro, SrootPTH, SinstPTH, SbootFIL

SUNW.i86pc

i86pc macro

Note –

The SUNW.i86pc vendor client class is only valid for the Solaris 10
3/05 release and compatible versions.

SUNW.Sun-Blade-1000

sun4u macro, SbootFIL

SUNW.Sun-Fire-880

sun4u macro, SbootFIL

PXEClient:Arch:00000:UNDI:002001

BootSrvA, BootFile

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx network address macros

BootSrvA option could be added to existing network
address macros. The value of BootSrvA should indicate the tftboot server.

Note that the total size of the vendor options that are provided to
a particular client must not exceed 255 bytes, including the option codes
and length information. This is a limitation of the current Solaris DHCP
protocol implementation. Generally, you should pass the minimum amount of
vendor information needed. You should use short path names in options that
require path names. If you create symbolic links to long paths, you can use
the shorter link names.

Using DHCP Manager to Create Install Options
and Macros

You can use DHCP Manager to create the options that are listed in Table 3–4 and the macros that
are listed in Table 3–5.

How to Create Options to Support Solaris Installation
(DHCP Manager)

Before You Begin

Perform the following tasks before you create DHCP macros for your installation.

Become superuser or assume an equivalent role on the
DHCP server system.

Start the DHCP Manager.

# /usr/sadm/admin/bin/dhcpmgr &

The DHCP Manager window is displayed.

Select the Options tab in DHCP Manager.

Choose Create from the Edit menu.

The Create
Option panel opens.

Type the option name for the first option, then type
values appropriate for that option.

Use the output of the add_install_client command , Table 3–3, and Table 3–4 to check the option
names and values for options you must create. Notice that the vendor client
classes are only suggested values. You should create classes to indicate the
actual client types that need to obtain Solaris installation parameters from
the DHCP service. See Working With DHCP Options (Task Map) in System Administration Guide: IP Services for
information about how to determine a client's vendor client class.

Click OK when you have entered all the values.

In the Options tab, select the option
you just created.

Select Duplicate from the Edit menu.

The
Duplicate Option panel opens.

Type the name of another option, then
modify other values appropriately.

The values for code, data type,
granularity, and maximum are most likely to need modification. See Table 3–3 and Table 3–4 for the values.

See Also

Writing a Script That Uses dhtadm to
Create Options and Macros

You
can create a Korn shell script by adapting the example in Example 3–1 to create all the
options listed in Table 3–3 and Table 3–4 and some useful macros.
Be sure to change all IP addresses and values contained in quotes to the correct
IP addresses, server names, and paths for your network. You should also edit
the Vendor= key to indicate the class of clients you have.
Use the information that add_install_client -d reports
to obtain the data that you need to adapt the script.

As superuser, execute dhtadm in batch mode. Specify
the name of the script to add the options and macros to your dhcptab.
For example, if your script is named netinstalloptions,
type the following command.

# dhtadm -B netinstalloptions

Clients that have vendor client classes that are listed in the Vendor= string can now use DHCP to install over the network.

For more information about how to use the dhtadm command,
see dhtadm(1M).
For more information about the dhcptab file, see dhcptab(4).